no political action committee ever owned warren rudman. no interest group do, no corporation did, and no big donor did. he was a republican and the republican party did not own him. he was a new hampshire man all the way through and even the voters of new hampshire did not own him what they won it went against the grain of the national interest as a warren saw it. that is what he fought for -- the interest of the united states. he fought for it in the senate. he fought for it afterwards. he did so with the same push and shove as his political hero, theodore roosevelt. he spent the last three years of his life trying to rescue the united states from the threats emanating from a divided middle east, from the country's negligence about national security, and from the self- destructive synergy of chronic deficits and delusional economics. that is a sketch of a great patriot and a great friend, too. i will yield to others who are going to fill in that the sketch, beginning with warren's close friend, the majority leader of the united states sen